Unlucky start

MCHS girls soccer team drops first game of the season

Box score from the Moffat County High School girls varsity soccer team’s game Saturday at Delta High School:

(Team — 1st half — 2nd half — final)

Moffat County — 0 — 1 — 1

Delta — 2 — 1 — 3

MCHS leading scorer:

(Name — goals)

Kelly Ciesco — 1

The Moffat County High School girls varsity soccer team got out to a slow start Saturday against Delta and couldn’t build on a second half goal as the Bulldogs dropped their first game, 3-1.

Bulldogs head coach Harry Tripp said his team arrived late to Delta and only had a short time to warm up for the game.

“We had to rush through our warm ups and I think that hurt us in the beginning of the game,” Tripp said. “We only arrived 25 minutes before the game started.”

Still, junior Kelly Ciesco scored a goal to pull within one, 2-1, in the second half to give the Bulldogs (0-1 overall, 0-1 Western Slope League) a chance.

A lucky bounce later and the Panthers (1-1 overall, 1-1 WSL) were back up by two goals.

“I think we did alright for our first game and our first time on grass,” Tripp said. “I figured out a few things, like passing, we need to work on.”

Tripp said things didn’t bounce the right way for MCHS in the game.

“(Against Delta,) we had some unlucky bounces and Delta played the press to try and catch us offside,” he said. “We couldn’t drop the ball into the soft spot for our forwards to come in and shoot and score.

“I think it was a frustrating game for everyone.”

The Bulldogs were without three seniors for various reasons, forcing the team to bring up four junior varsity players to fill spots.

“The three seniors we were missing are big contributors to our offense,” Tripp said. “We had to try to find replacements to fill their spots.”

However, Tripp said sophomore Tori Snyder, a captain for the junior varsity team, stood out the most for him.

“”I told everyone at half to relax, get control back and just dribble and pass,” he said. “Tori was the only one who did what I said and she controlled the outside by dribbling and helped set up Ciesco’s goal.”

Heading into the team’s next game Thursday at Steamboat Springs High School, Tripp said his team has things to work on in the three days leading up to the rivalry contest.

“Passing better is a big thing and we need to set things up to score,” he said. “Right now, we are turning and kicking and I don’t want to play elementary ball.”

Despite the troubles, Tripp said he believes his team will be OK this season.

“I think we did good in our first game, but a couple of little things here and there like passing and ball control need to be worked on,” he said. “With our first game jitters out of the way, we need to settle down and just play.”

Joshua Gordon can be reached at 875-1795 or at joshgordon@craigdailypress.com.